Ventilated refrigerator dish



Sept. 12, 1933. H. H. MAAs VENTILATED REFRIGERATOR DISH Filed March 15,1933 retested" Seph' 12, 1933 umran srArEfs PATENT orrl'cs in gvsnms'rsn ans-momma nrsn Harvey B. Moss. shebonan. wa,-m to The Vollrath00., Sheboygan, Wis a corporation of Wisconsin Application when 15,193:. Serial No. seam .5 Claim. (01. oz-1) My invention relates torefrigerator dishes of the pan and cover taken on the line 3-3 of thetype adaptedto retard the rate of dehydration Fig. 2 and passing throughopposite corners of of vegetables, meats and the like in mechanical thedish; and I refrigerators, by provision of restricted ventilation Fig. 4is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showins 5 between the pan and cover. Myinvention, which the cover in the position assumed when the, upper is'inthe nature of an improvement over the venright-hand (Fig. 2) corner ofthe cover is detilated refrigerator dish shown in Cornell Patpressed.ent No. 1,843,918, is concerned with the elimi- The pan is preferablystamped or pressed nation of the rattling ofthe cover under vibrafrom asingle piece of sheet metal without seamtion, and the construction of anarrangement of ing or welding and it comprises a bottom 11, endsinfltmmentfllties p v l mh non-rattlins 12a and 12b, sides 13c and 13d,and an outwardly support for the cover-particularly a three point turnedupper continuous flange or rim 14. convex p nsion. in cross section andterminating at its outer-most Theoretically, a cover such as shown inthe edge in a downward direction. The corners Cornell patent should restsolidly. and non-vibraformed by the edges and sides are not squaretionally by its support on the four protuberances corners, nor are thecorners of therim 14 mitered, 1' r -n es at vthl! m in h p phbut insteadthey are turned through arcs of general recesses ofthe cover whichreceives the up? erous radirto avoid sharp corners.' per marginal lip orrim of the pan. But in prac- The cover 15 is likewise pressed from asingle h the -WW 0! I cohllderflble D piece of sheet metal-andlike thepan, it may subtion of the ordinary production of enamel ware wequentlybe enamel-unless, for example, it be covers-such refrigerator dishesusually being made of stainless steel-and comprises a flat field mad fenam l W -fr quently results in the 16 bounded by a pair of peripheralrecesses 17 and coplanar. As a consequence such covers are susouterrecess 18 faces downwardly,the two recesses p ih kins s ishtly yhichwill produce of the cover being formed by'pressing the periphachattering or rattling if the dish is set in vicry of the cover sheetinto S-shaped cross section. bratio'n as by the vibration of therefrigerant 'At each side the respective center lines of the mp which 1!usually mounted in or on outer recess 18 and the rim 14 are in the samever- 80 the refrigerator. tical plane, whereby the rim 14, which has aTo limin this Objection and to permit oi smaller radius of curvature, isadapted to be re-; greater .manufact-uring tolerances, l; eliminateceived in the recess 18. By the three protuber one o the fou supp i s'pro u rances, leavsneeeso, 21 and 22 across the valley of the recess evn. fi and self- 118111118 upport for the cover recess 18 is spaced afraction of an inch above to'hold it against vibr tion under vibrationsof the crown of the rim 14 as will later be disc such low magnitude aswould probably be en-" ingrea'ter detail, The outer-most flange l9of'the countered'in the vibration of the mechanical uni cover, which isalso the termination of the recess to which an electric Y reirlseratoris subiected- 18. extends downwardly substantially as far as the 4 Myinvention 18 P r y concerned with the outer-most down turned edge of therim 14 for the dispo i n, m l 8nd lflmmeht 0! the purpose, among others,oi utilizing the outerthree suvportins vmwberm h h I retain mm edge orthe recess 1a to the best advantage and the construction andproportioning of the in preventing the com u n by-engmng the otherelements to overcome problems created by outebm'o mt or the m the use ofi three W m for the The reverseside 18E of the stocifonning the cover.

recess. 18 preferably extends as high asor perhaps with a trifle higherthan the field 15, so that u the features and, advantages of myinvention are set cover inverted and l u a I for thcom forth in thefollowing description of; a specific tents of the dish, the convex bead18R will afford embodiment thereof and illustrated in the so a l m I orthe cover when thus companying drawing wherein:

m. 1 is an end view of the refrigerator m. reversed, upon a table top-If. i indicated i comprisingo. pan and o r; the drawing, the field 15 isa trifle, lower than the -bcad18R,thelatterwillserveasamarginalbead 4m.in top view thereof; 56 rim/ ads a diagonal vertical section through tolimit,lateral shifting of another .1118 only three whi COB-mim a l fl in ly 18, the cover is so supported that the valley of the Q f l pp r iprotuberance! not 1118 w l 18. The inner recess 17 faces upwardly whilethe certain extent contact thecrown of the rim 14 as an auxiliary limiton the lateral shifting of the cover. 'Further, as explained in theCornell patent, the bead 17R forms a drip line from which any moisturecondensing-on the battle-like inner surfaces of the cover adjacent theventilating gap between the rim and recess 18, will be dropped down intothe interior of the pan.

Adverting to the protuberances 20, 21 and 22 which hold the cover spacefrom sealing contact with the rim, each protuberance is formed by across-notch pressed into the stock of the recess 18 and bridging acrossthe valley of the recess 18 as best shown at the; left-hand end of Fig.3. The contact of these protuberances with the crown of the rim 14 ofthe pan support the cover upon the pan with the crown a spaced distanceaway from the recess 18 to afford a restricted air passage into and outof the interior of the pan through a gap which is continuous around theperiphery except at the protuberances. Two of the protuberances-20 and21come at the corners at-the end 12b of the pan. The thirdprotuberance-22-comes at the end 12a and mid:- way between the corners.

In storing arectangular refrigerator dish, such as here shown, in arefrigerator, the dish is 'generally inserted endwise for the morecompact storage and ready accessibility of the dish and otherreceptacles and objects kept in the refrigerator.

In sliding or lifting the refrigerator dish intov orout of therefrigerator shelf, it is most natural for one to grasp one end of thecover and the associated end of the rim 14 between the thumb andforefinger, placing the other fingers against the end of the pan nearthe bottom to brace the hold. If the dish is grasped at the end 12b,there is no tendency for the cover to rock about the three supportingprotuberances because the down pressure of the cover against the pan isapplied along a line passing through two protuberances. If the cover andrim be grasped at the end 12c, there will be a tendency to rock thecover about an axis passing through the protuberance 22 and one of theother protuberances, unless the cover and rim are grasped at'the regionof the protuberance 22. But as this comes at the center of the end, andthat is the most natural place to grasp it, the probability is the coverwill not be rocked. If the three protuberances were placed on arectangular cover to get the greatest spread as is customary in generalin supportingobjects on three feet, two of them would beat the cornerson one side and the third would be at the midpoint atv the oppositeside. In such position the dish could not be grasped at the middle, orat any other region, of either end intermediate the corners withoutrocking the cover.

Referring again to Figs. 3 and 4, if the finger pressure is applied toone side of the protuberance 22 and there is a rocking of the coverabout an oblique axis passing through the protuberance 22 and theprotuberance 20 or'21, the rocking will be limited by the crown of therim 14 against the valley of the recess 18 at the adjacent corner. Thisis illustratedin Fig. 4 where pressure has been applied at the cornerformed by the side 13d and the end 12a. This rocks the cover about anaxis 2525 passing through the protuberances 20 and 22 and in the planeof the crown I of the rim 14. Because, under such circumstances, anormal from the axis 25 to the point of contact between the rim andrecess is about onehalf of the length of a normal from the axis to theopposite corner (that is, the corner having the protuberance 21), thelatter corner will be elevated substantially twice as far as thediagonally opposite corner is depressed. Since the maximum depression atthe corners of the end having the protuberance 22 is the verticaldistance between the protuberances and the valley of the recess 18, themaximum elevation of the ther preventing the lateral shifting orrotating of the cover off the rim. If this most distant and mostelevated corner of the flange 19 be kept below the crownof the rim 14,there is less tendency for the flange 19, either to ride on to the topof the crown of the rim 14, or having done so, to continue in a shiftingand rotating manner to move out of position by riding further on to thecrown of the rim. 1

Having thus described my invention. I claim:

1. A refrigerator dish comprising a rectangular pan having an outwardlyturned rim in its upper edges and a cover having a downwardly facingperipheral recess for the reception of the lar pan having an outwardlyturned rim in its upper edges and a cover having a downwardly facingperipheral'recess for the reception of the rim and three supportingelements intercepting the valley of the recess at less than its depthfor engaging the rim, two of the elements being substantially at thecorners of one end and the third being on the opposite end intermediatethe corners. i

3. A rectangular refrigerator dish comprising a pan having a peripheralrim at its upper edges and a cover having a down turned peripheralflange adapted to embrace the rim and receive it inwardly of the flangeand three supporting surfaces formed inwardly of the flange and aboveits lower edge, the supporting surfaces being adapted to rest upon therim and hold the cover spaced upwardly from the rim to provide amarginal ventilating gap between the cover and the pan for the passageof air into and out of the dish, two of the three surfaces beingdisposed adjacent one end of the dish on the respective sides of thevertical longitudinal center plane of the dish and the third being atthe opposite end intermediate its corners.

4. A rectangular refrigerator dish comprising a pan having a peripheralrim at its upper edges and a cover :having a downturned peripheralflange adapted to embrace the rim .and receive it inwardly of the flangeand three supporting .rim and three rim-engaging supporting elementssurfaces formed inwardly of the flange and above its lower edge, thesupporting surfaces being adapted to rest upon the rim and hold thecover spaced'upwardly from the rim to provide a marginal ventilating gapbetween the cover and the pan for'the passage of air into and out of thedish, two of the three surfaces being disposed adjacent one end of thedish on the respective sides of the vertical longitudinal center planeof the dish and the third being at the opposite end intermediate itscomers, the surfaces and the flange being so constructed and arranged.as regard their respective depths, that the maximum rocking of the coverabout an axis passing between the third said surface and one of thefirst two surfaces will not elevate the lower edge of the flange abovethe top of the rim.

5. A rectangular refrigerator dish comprising a pan having an out-turnedperipheral rim at its upper edges and a stamped sheet metal cover havingits peripheral edge formed in a-shaped cross section to provide an innerperipheral rectangular outwardly facing recess and an outer peripheralrectangular downwardly facing recess therebeyond, the terminal flange ofthe outer recess extending below the rim and the outer recess beingsubstantially wider than the rim and adapted to receive it, and threecross notches formed in the stock of the outer recess and extendingtransversely across the valley thereof and extending downwardly from thevalley of the HARVEY H. MAAB. I

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